The Concept of Solipsism

Solipsism is a philosophical concept according to which a person recognizes only their mind as the only reality that always exists and is always available. Mark Twain demonstrates the main message of solipsism in his story The Mysterious Stranger

“There is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a Dream, a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And You are but a Thought – a vagrant Thought, a useless Thought, a homeless Thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities.”

The same idea, in general, is illustrated by the films Mr. Nobody, The Beginning, and The Matrix.

According to solipsism, only a person’s perception of reality and their thoughts are available to them, while the entire external world is beyond the bounds of certainty. Therefore, the existence of things for a person will always be only a matter of faith, since if someone requires proof of their existence, a person will not be able to provide them.

In other words, no person can be sure of the existence of anything outside of their consciousness. Solipsism is not so much doubt about the existence of reality as a recognition of the importance of the role of one’s own mind. The concept of solipsism either needs to be assimilated as it is or to accept “solipsism in reverse,” that is, to give yourself a rational explanation of the relative external world and justify why this external world still exists.